"FEAR NOT!"

The Fright of Christmas!?!

READ FULL TEXT FROM THE WORD:

1 John 1:5, John 8:12

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

THOUGHTS ON TODAY’S SCRIPTURES:

Maybe you better clean your computer screen and try again--certainly there's a typo there...Christmas is not a fright--never! Unless you're talking about the little kids afraid to sit on Santa's lap, or the shy guys afraid they'll get caught under the mistletoe...certainly there's no FRIGHT in Christmas!?!

Better look again! Let's take a time machine trip back to the First Christmas...

Watch Mary tremble in fear as the angel Gabriel appears to her with his message from the throne. First of all, just to have an angel, a REAL angel, visit you, would be frightening enough. But when it's Gabriel, and he announces you are to be the mother of the Savior...that's almost too scary to be true. And yet it was...and the message to Mary? "FEAR NOT!"

Watch the shepherds tending their flocks in the fields. A whole HOST of angels show up in the sky and scare the living daylights out of the poor shepherds! Just imagine--nothing special ever happened on those cold sleepy hills where the shepherds worked...until that night--it was almost too scary to be true. And yet it was...and the message to the shepherds? "FEAR NOT!"

Watch the world around you--the terror, the turmoil, the hurt of spirit, body, mind, soul and spirit. It's a FRIGHTFUL world NOW too--whether it's all around you or deep within you. FEAR just happens to be the human condition....it began in the Garden of Eden; it happened in the Holy Land; it's with us today. BUT, take heart--for in the middle of the fright shines a Light...the glorious Light of the World come to give us that same message the angels gave Mary and the Shepherd's... "FEAR NOT!"

Welcome the LIGHT of Christmas into the dark night of YOUR fear, and watch it dispel under the glow and glory of His love. "Perfect love cast out fear"--believe it and have a faith-filled day!

PRAYER:

"Father, my heart--just like Mary and the Shepherd's--is full of fear. Cast it out with the Light of Your Son; may His Light flood the darkness of my soul, casting out all fear, filling my heart with Your love and peace this day--and then help me take that Light into my darkened world that those around me may also believe--and live, In Jesus' Name, Amen."